Helles or hell is a traditional German pale lager beer, produced chiefly in Southern Germany, particularly Munich. The German word ''

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

'' can be translated as "bright", "light", or "pale".

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Helles-style beers typically are full-bodied, mildly sweet and light-coloured, with low bitterness. The beer is clear due to filtration prior to bottling, although some restaurants and breweries do offer an unfiltered version.Schanzenbräu Hell
/ref> Munich-style helles is a yellow beer brewed using

cool fermentation Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

with a lager yeast such as '' Saccharomyces pastorianus'', bitter hops such as

Hallertau hops This is a list of varieties of hop (''Humulus lupulus''). As there are male and female plants, the flowers (cones) of the female plant are fertilized by the pollen of the male flowers with the result that the female flowers form seeds. These se ...

, and an original specific gravity (prior to fermentation) between 1.044 and 1.053 (11 to 13 degrees plato), and between 4.5 and 6%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

. Helles has a less pronounced hop flavour than pilsner beers.

History

Until the 1960s, Helles was universally available in German-speaking regions. In many regions, Helles was slowly replaced by pilsner-style beers, which was also driven by changing consumer preferences from draft beer to bottled beer. In regions outside of Southern Germany, Helles is regaining popularity, particularly Berlin, where the beer's traditional image has become trendy.

Distribution

Helles enjoys great popularity in the

Southern German Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria ...

regions of Bavaria, Franconia, and Baden-Württemberg. It can be referred to as , , , "Munich lager", or "export". No clear distinction is drawn between lager and export, although export typically is closer in style to

Dortmunder Export Dortmunder Export or Dortmunder is a pale lager originally brewed by Dortmunder Union in Dortmund, Germany, in 1873. It is a soft-textured beer influenced by the Pilsner lager brewed in Pilsen. History After World War II, Export was the most po ...

, which has a slightly higher ABV of 5.5% for

extended shelf life Shelf-stable food (sometimes ambient food) is food of a type that can be safely stored at room temperature in a sealed container. This includes foods that would normally be stored refrigerated but which have been processed so that they can be s ...

Examples

* Andechser Hell * Augustiner Bräu Lagerbier Hell * Ayinger Lager Hell *

Bayreuther Bayreuther is the adjectival form of Bayreuth, Germany, and may refer to: In Bayreuth * Bayreuth Festival, german: Bayreuther Festspiele * (Bayreuth pages), a monthly newsletter founded in 1878 * , an Easter Festival held at Bayreuth * , a bre ...

Hell * Chiemseer Hell *

Dinkelacker Dinkelacker is a brand of German beer brewed in Stuttgart, Germany. The Dinkelacker brewery was founded by Carl Dinkelacker in Stuttgart's Tübinger Straße in 1888. The company still brews at that location. By the end of the 19th century Dinke ...

Hell * Erdinger Brauhaus Helles * Flötzinger Hell *

Giesinger Giesinger is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (born 1947), Austrian politician * Max Giesinger (born 1988), German singer-songwriter * Stefanie Giesinger (born 1996), German model {{surname German-language surnames< ...

Münchner Hell *

Hacker-Pschorr Hacker-Pschorr is a brewery in Munich, formed in 1972 out of the merger of two breweries, Hacker and Pschorr. Hacker was founded in 1417, nearly a century before the enactment of the ''Reinheitsgebot'' beer purity law of 1516. As one of six bre ...

Münchner Helles *

Hofbräu München Hofbräu is a German term meaning "royal brewer". It may refer to: Breweries * Cölner Hofbräu Früh, a brewery in Cologne * Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München (''Hofbräu München''), a brewery in Munich ** Hofbräu-Festzelt, the largest beer ...

Original *

Kichesippi Beer Co. The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin language, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major tra ...

Heller Highwater * Löwenbräu Original *

Oberdorfer Oberdorfer is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Don Oberdorfer (born 1931), American journalist and academic *Erich Oberdorfer (1905–2002), German botanist *Louis F. Oberdorfer Louis Falk Oberdorfer (February 21, 1919 – Fe ...

Helles * Nashville Brewing Company's Nashville Original Lager * Paulaner Münchner Hell * Spaten Münchner Hell * Schönramer Hell *

Stiegl Beer in Austria comes in a wide variety of styles. There are many small breweries across the country, although a few large breweries dominate the market. The most common beer is ''Märzen''. Breweries Styrian breweries, in the south, include ' ...

Hell *

Tegernseer The Ducal Bavarian Brewery of Tegernsee (German ''Herzoglich Bayerisches Brauhaus Tegernsee KG'') is a brewery in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany, located inside the north wing of former Tegernsee Abbey and owned by Maria Anna, Duchess in Bavaria, yo ...

Hell *

Weihenstephaner The Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan (''Bavarian State Brewery of Weihenstephan'') is a German brewery located on the site of the former Weihenstephan Abbey in Freising, Bavaria. In 2014, the total output was . The brewery advertises itse ...

Original * Ølsnedkeren Sikkert og vist *

Penn Brewery Penn Brewery, also known as the Pennsylvania Brewing Company, is a brewery and restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Tom Pastorius in 1986, and is located at 800 Vinial Street in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on ...

Gold *

Tonewood Brewing Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for use in woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. Varieties of tonewood As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwoo ...

Lumberyard

References

{{Beer styles German beer styles German cuisine Pages translated from German Wikipedia

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History

Distribution

Examples

See also

References